FMF: Motivate

So, every year I swear this will be my year.

My fit year.

My organized year.

My happy year.

I've ditched the setting of resolutions because every year I make myself a liar.

Instead, I create goals and hope for the best... not a lot of planning. Not a lot of thinking things through. Not a lot of following-through.

As I scrolled down my newsfeed the last week of December, I saw that I wasn't alone. So many of us feel like we don't have our lives together. We feel like we are less than when compared to everyone else, like we're not good enough, like we've not done enough.

It's kind of like how you're never satisfied with your hair... Ladies, you know what I mean. If it's straight, you wish it was curly. If it's curly, you wish it was straight.

We are never satisfied... and that's ok. I don't think we're meant to be satisfied, because God is doing a perfect work in us. He put in us a desire for Him, and somehow we misconstrue that desire for anything and everything else on this planet.

We learn at a young age to strive, to push, to fill our calendar with meetings and appointments and classes and whatever the next new thing is...

only to find ourselves falling into bed late at night sapped of energy and not even wanting to think about getting up and getting on the hamster wheel the next morning. Nothing to motivate...

There's a verse in the Bible about not having a vision- where there is no vision, the people will perish.

Once we have that vision, though, we have to work together. Notice it said people... plural. That tells me something.

When we want to do something, we need each other. (End five minutes)

So, seeing all those other people talking about their desire for change and to do better, I threw out a little post about accountability, knowing that if I wanted to do anything, I needed some help.

This group, in just four days, has encouraged me. I've seen conversation between people who don't know each other, with tips and Bible verses and kind words and prayers. There's been pictures posted and music and just lots of fellowship.

Mostly, though, I've seen encouragement to spur each other on, just as we are told to do in Hebrews.

A synonym of spur? Encourage, incite, provoke... and motivate.

This group has shown me a in the flesh version of secondary motivation. Sure, we have to be motivated eternally, but we all need somebody else to kick our butt every now and again. And mostly I need someone to say, "Hey, Lauren, where are you at? Have you moved from the couch? Are you still covered up in the bed?"... or when I go back to work, "Make some time to slow down and take care of yourself."

I'm so thankful that a friend encouraged me to start a group for accountability. And I'm so thankful for their willingness to motivate. I'm sure I'll need it in the coming year.

Linking up with Five Minute Friday, where we write for five minutes unedited, on a prompt. This week's prompt, motivate. I went over my time limit just a tad!